Huge rise in rail delays

Network Rail, the publicly owned body that has taken over from Railtrack, today admitted it was to blame for a huge rise in delays affecting millions of commuters.

The admission of a nine per cent rise in delays caused by track and signalling failure was set to spark a huge row with train-operating companies, particularly those serving London commuter routes.

The company, which said it lost more than £290 million last year, admitted that the number of train delays caused by its maintenance programme increased by nine per cent with 14.7 million minutes lost to delays in the year to the end of March up from 13.4 million minutes.

The operators have been fined tens of millions of pounds for failing to run the trains on time. But they, in turn, claim quite justifiably that they are not responsible for all the delays.

Operators, such as South West Trains which runs some of the busiest commuter services in the country into main line Waterloo Station, estimate that more than half its delays are caused by infrastructure breakdowns, the responsibility of Network Rail.

Earlier this year Richard Bowker, chairman of the Strategic Rail Authority, warned that many prestigious projects designed to improve the network may never take place because the cash is fast running out.

The train operators were ordered to cut spiralling costs. Many are introducing various off- peak schemes and promotions to encourage passengers back to railways - but these moves will be defeated if train time-keeping fails to improve. That could mean many rail users reverting to their cars.

The bleak picture was made worse by the news that Network Rail lost £290 million last year and saw its debts soar by 50 per cent from £6.3 billion to £9.4 billion. The losses represent a £585 million dive on the previous year when Railtrack in administration reported profits of £295 million.

The revelation comes as the business admitted the increasing delays caused by Network Rail are " unacceptable".

The soaring debt also takes Network Rail close to the £10.4billion of loans arranged with City institutions and backed by the Government when the Treasury organised the bail-out of Railtrack last year.

Chief executive John Armitt, brought in 18 months ago to turn round the railways, said Network Rail was doing better on broken rails, temporary speed restrictions and the number of signals passed at danger. But he admitted: " Ultimately it is the reliability of the train service which is the barometer of the success of the industry, and in this area we saw a setback as infrastructure-caused delays rose.

"Clearly this was an unacceptable performance and one that gives a clear focus for the year ahead."

Chairman Ian McAllister said: "It was a year in which the first steps were taken to address the difficulties of the past. It will take several years but our goal is to build a rail infrastructure which will demonstrate sustainable improvement in performance at an acceptable cost to the nation."